Just days after it was reported that the SEC’s Enforcement Division is “well down” in head count from prior years and stuck in a holding-pattern until Congress approves its new budget, two senior U.S. Senators proposed that the Enforcement Division receive $20 million in additional funds to hire more enforcement staff and upgrade its technology to fight fraud.
At a press conference yesterday, Senators Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Richard Shelby (Ala.) were joined by SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro as they proposed an amendment to the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, a bill in the Senate that expands antifraud efforts in several agencies. Reuters reports that Sen. Schumer stated that “[w]e cannot afford to nickel and dime an agency that serves as our first line of defense in this ongoing financial crisis.”
